


Found Again

by ADisgrace



Category: My Candy Love
Genre: Canon Divergence, Ensemble Cast, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fix-It, Slow Burn, University Life Rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22037107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADisgrace/pseuds/ADisgrace
Summary: Circumstances bring Lysander back to Sweet Amoris and back into Lynn's life.
Relationships: Candy (My Candy Love)/Lysander (My Candy Love)
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is NOT spoiler-free for University Life.
> 
> This fic takes place after episode 10 of University Life.

The Cosy Bear is packed for the lunchtime rush. A revolving door of workers and students alike queue for soups and pastries, and for their caffeine fixes to keep them going throughout the afternoon.

A student in the corner has been hogging one of the better seats since morning, typing away on his laptop and nursing the same coffee he ordered some hours ago. Clemence shoots him daggers but he doesn’t notice her gaze and continues on uninterrupted.

Duties are divided on a busy day like today. Hyun takes the orders and accepts payments, fulfilling orders while he can. Lynn focuses solely on preparing coffees while Clemence comes and goes from the kitchen, replenishing pastries and dishing them out onto plates when Hyun calls back an order.

As orders mount up, Lynn begins making a latte in a reusable paisley-patterned coffee cup while the line of customers grows longer and longer. She fixes the lid on top of the cup and turns back towards the counter to give it to its owner.

A hand reaches out to accept it and when she raises her eyes to meet the customer’s, she sees a once-familiar face.

“Lysander.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is far shorter than the others will be, this is just a teaser.


	2. Chapter 2

“Lysander, you’re back,” she says, her gaze giving him the once over, hardly believing he’s there. Time has been kind to him. Work on the farm has toned him; even with his coat on he’s clearly broader, more muscular. And his hair is longer now. Loose strands still frame his face and the rest is fixed into a low ponytail at the back of his head.

“What brings you back to Sweet Amoris?”

“I just got back into town last night,” he begins but trails off with a weak smile. “Family… stuff.”

“Rosa,” Lynn softens her voice so customers don’t overhear, “I know about the baby.”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d heard.” Lysander lets out a deep breath and the brave face he’s putting on falls away. “How is she, really?”

“It’s still pretty raw; she’s having a hard time of it.” Lynn doesn’t elaborate much, Rosalya’s exactly as you’d imagine; in an unbearable state of grief. And then there’s the fallout from Alexy’s comment. He meant well, but it wasn’t what she needed to hear right then, she needed comfort, not solutions. And because of that, they both got their hearts crushed.

The queue continues to grow and Clemence returns from the kitchen with a fresh batch of bread rolls. Without missing a step, Clemence walks past Lynn and gives her a stern stare. “Less chat, more elbow grease.”

Taking his leave from Clemence, Lysander fishes a €5 note from his wallet and hands it to Lynn. “Thanks for the coffee, I’ll be seeing you.”

Lynn opens the till and as reaches out to hand him back his change, he waves her off. “Keep it.”

“See you.” Lynn smiles, watching him walk out the door, and puts his change into the tip jar.

* * *

Back on Campus, Lynn lies on Chani’s roommate’s bed, going over notes from her last class. Mr Lebarde isn’t the most engaging teacher and neither is his subject, so every line has to be read again and again for it to fully sink in.

Coming to the end of a page, Chani lays her pen aside and rolls over on the bed to face Lynn. “If you’re ok with saying it, what happened the other night?”

Chani’s been her rock lately, and without Rosalya or Alexy to turn to, she supposes she can trust Chani to keep it to herself.

“Rosalya miscarried the other night.” The sentence hangs in the air, Chani not knowing how to respond and Lynn not ready to follow it up.

“God, poor Rosa,” Chani eventually says, “How awful.”

“Yeah,” Lynn keeps her eyes glued to the duvet, if she looks at Chani there’s a chance it’ll all overwhelm her again and she might just break into tears. “And Rosa and ‘Lex had a massive blowout afterwards. She was crying, wondering if she could still have kids, and he tried to comfort her, telling her she could always adopt and that backfired. She was upset and then upset _him_ because he’s adopted you know?”

Chani nods. She didn’t know actually but doesn’t interject lest she interrupt Lynn’s train of thought.

“And so they both left the groupchat, they’re mad at each other, and I feel caught in the middle.”

Chani gets off her bed and goes over to Lynn. She kneels at the side of the bed and throws an arm around Lynn’s shoulder and rubs circles in her back. No words are exchanged in that moment, none or needed, but that hug melts away some of her anxieties. Sometimes there are no solutions; all you really need is for someone to listen.

Soon the night goes back to normal and airing her feelings softens the weight of them a little. They settle in on the bed and tune in to a new Netflix documentary, something murderous and full of twists. They could do with some snacks, but the cosiness isn’t worth disturbing.

In a down moment between episodes, Lynn gets chatting. “I bumped into Lysander, Leigh’s brother, at work today. He’s back in town for Rosa.”

“That’ll be good for her,” Chani says, thinking out loud, before placing the name. “Hey, that’s your ex, right? What was that like?”

“We only spoke about Rosa, it was pretty sombre.”

Chani looks up and away from the show to gauge Lynn’s reaction. “But was it nice to see him again?”

Lynn reflects on it a moment. She’s been so caught up in everybody else’s business that she hasn’t really thought about it. “Yeah, it was actually.”

* * *

In the morning, Lynn has a spring in her step. Talking with Chani has eased the burden and helped her sort through her feelings. Her shared pain for Rosalya is still present, as is her discomfort with the Rosa-Alexy situation, but she feels better for having talked about it.

On route to Professor Zaidi’s class, she stops by the front desk in the dorm building to collect her post. Mercifully, no bills or appointment letters have arrived and a package her mother told her had been sent has finally come.

Sitting out on a bench in the campus quad, she uses her keys to tear open the tape sealing the box and digs right in. It’s full of old mementos; photographs documenting her teenage years, ticket stubs from various concerts and cinema showings, as well as postcards from various trips friends and family have taken.

The first photo she finds is of her high school graduation, her entire class stands proud and smiling. If she remembers right Iris’ mother took this photo and printed out copies for everyone to have. This photo used to be stuck to the fridge at her parents’ place.

The next few she picks up are of her and Lysander. Some are group shots but he’s in all of them, a testament to how ever-present he was in her life. How strange that these photos of him would re-enter her life at the same time he did. The timing feels so faithful.

Photos of the constant trio, her, Rosalya, and Alexy make up a good portion of the photos. The memories wash over her in waves and suddenly she can see scenes of a thousand happy moments playing on a loop in her mind. If only they could return to that simplicity.

Instead of dwelling on it, she shoves the memory box into her backpack and heads to professor Zaidi’s class. It’s her favourite subject and today it’s a welcome distraction. Instead of keeping them cooped up in the auditorium, they make the most of the fine weather and journey into town where they document local graffiti. It’s nice to get out of the classroom for a change and it puts her in a good humour.

In enough of a good mood that she feels up to visiting Rosalya. It’s bound to be awkward and emotionally draining so this is a moment that needed to be worked up to.

On route there, she bumps into Alexy and it’s a good thing she emotionally readied herself for some tension today because she’s found it already. Awkward greetings are exchanged but not much is said, both of them linger too long, waiting for the other to say something first.

“So you left the groupchat,” Lynn says, biting the bullet and speaking first. She could have kept the tone light but they do have to talk about these things eventually and there’s no sense in waiting. The longer they leave it the worse it’s going to get.

“Yeah, I think we need our space.”

“You’re probably right,” Lynn says, trying to sound amiable. “Everything is so fresh, you just need some time and-“

Alexy cuts her off. “Lynn, I’m not really up to talking about it.”

Lynn nods and everything returns to an awkward quiet until she feels the need to break the silence.

“Lysander’s back in town so she’ll have some more support.”

Alexy seems to perk up a little, his face a little less grim, probably glad she has another person to rely on. He still doesn’t say anything though.

Without telling him where’s she’s going should it be awkward, Lynn takes her leave. “I’ll see you ok?”

She phrases it more like a question than a goodbye, forcing him to agree.

“Ok, see you.”

* * *

At Rosalya and Leigh’s place, Leigh answers the door. Lynn squeezes his hand tight. They aren’t close enough to hug and she doesn’t want to overstep, but she feels the need to be there for him as well as Rosalya.

“How’s she been?”

Leigh shakes his head, he’s not the type to spill his guts out but this situation is exceptional. “She’s not eating; she’s just lies in bed. But she’s in the shower now; I suppose that’s a step in the right direction.”

Leigh leads Lynn inside where she meets Lysander’s in the living room.

“Hi, Lysander,” If this were any other time maybe she’d have a stronger reaction to her first love returning but her mind is elsewhere.

Leigh continues speaking as he leads her to the couch. “Lysander hired a farmhand so he could be with us.”

Lynn nods. She’s glad Leigh has support too, he’s had to be strong for Rosa but he’s hurting too.

After Lynn takes off her coat and takes a seat on the couch, Leigh excuses himself to go check on Rosalya.

“I’m glad you’re here for them, they’re in a bad place right now.” Lynn begins, turning to Lysander, but finishes her train of thought there as Rosalya arrives.

Rosalya is dressed in pyjamas and her hair is still wet from the shower. She takes a seat next to Lynn on the couch and Lynn pulls her close into a hug. Rosalya squeezes back and does her best not to cry.

As Leigh heads to the kitchen to prepare tea and biscuits, Lynn puts a hand on Rosalya’s knee. “How are you doing, are you in any pain?” 

Physically anyway, she’s got an idea how she’s doing mentally.

“Better. They sent me home from the hospital.”

“I’m so sorry Rosa, “Lynn says, laying a hand on Rosalya’s arm. “I’m here for you, you know. Anything at all, I’m here.”

It’s then that Rosalya begins to cry. She cries deep guttural noises and her eyes only water so much because she only has so much left in her. Nobody attempts to comfort her with words because they all know none will do. Instead, they let her have her time. Leigh holds her hand throughout the tears, his eyes watering too, and eventually she’s all cried out.

With all that movement in the living room, Lynn’s bag tips over and her box of souvenirs peaks out. Deciding it might be a nice topic to take everyone’s mind off tragedy, Lynn places it on the coffee table.

“My mother sent me this old box of memories today. There are some great old photos in it. Want to take a look?”

Lynn takes out an old photo of her and Rosalya at the beach and passes it around. Rosalya barely pays attention.

Trying to get her to engage, Lysander picks out another photo of her. “Your hair is so long in this one.”

She hardly stirs.

Making his own attempt, Leigh finds a photo of the two of them and shows it to her. “We were so young.”

Curiosity gets the better of her and Rosalya takes the photo from him and grins. “We were just kids.”

Now immersed in the nostalgia, Rosalya begins looking through the box herself. She smiles as she admires and old poster for the school play and even laughs as she finds a photo of them all dressed up for Halloween. Lysander could barely close his mouth with those vampire dentures in.

For the first time since it happened, she’s not thinking about the miscarriage or what could have been. Everything feels lighter now, if only for a minute, and she eventually dozes off on the couch without crying herself to sleep.

With Rosalya asleep, Lynn takes her leave and heads for home. Leigh thanks her for coming and she promises to come by again and to be there for Rosalya’s first venture outside.

It’s late by the time she gets home and after a quick shower, she heads straight to bed. Yeleen’s phone rings and she takes the call outside, but despite the wall between them, Lynn still overhears the tense conversation with who she guesses is Yeleen’s mother. Drowning it out, Lynn plugs in her earbuds and falls asleep to some instrumental music.

* * *

Her next morning is free and she uses the opportunity to study and prepare for her later classes. The option to head to her study group was brought up in a text from Chani but she passes. She doesn’t fancy spending the morning with Alexy until things have mellowed a bit; they all need some space and time.

Later in the afternoon, she has Mr Lebarde’s class, and while it isn’t exactly her favourite, it’s far from the worst thing to happen this week so she heads straight there with any qualms. That is until he springs a timed group presentation on them. If there’s anything worse than presenting it’s doing it with Melody.

But at least they know their subject well so the presentation goes ok, even if the delivery is a little stilted at times with both of them occasionally interrupting and speaking over each other. They’re not the best but far from the worst either. It’s an acceptable, middle of the road performance.

As she leaves class and walks through the campus quad, Chani practically sprints towards her. She’s immaculately styled and wearing a starry-printed dress Lynn’s never seen before

“It’s finally the weekend,” Chani says, practically bursting with glee, “Get changed and let’s hit the town.”

“What’s got you in such a party mood?”

“Nothing,” Chani begins, “I just think you’ve earned a bit of a break. You need to take some time for yourself too; you can’t play superhero for everyone else all the time.”

Lynn gives her a quizzical look. “Superhero?”

Chani shakes her head. “You know what I mean. You’re always fixing everyone else’s problems. It’s admirable but it’s not really healthy that you never put yourself first.”

Lynn pauses, mulling over what Chani just said, but never gets a chance to respond as Chani speaks first.

“Go ahead and get changed, I’ll wait.”

Lynn heads to the dorms and quickly changes into a plaid shirt with pleather leggings and rejoins Chani in the quad. Chani instructs her to give a twirl in her new outfit and gives her thumbs up in approval when she does.

Feeling better than she has in weeks, Lynn links arms with Chani as they head to the Snake Room, laughing and joking all the way. The laughter doesn’t stop until the bouncer at the bar door refuses to let them in.

“Names?”

Refusing to be bested by a guest list, Chani puts on an air of confidence. “Chani and Lynn. So have you been busy? I hear it’s going to be one hell of a soiree.”

“Not on the list.”

Mimicking Chani’s confidence and acting like they belong, Lynn plays along. “Oh, I guess we aren’t listed under our real names. Sometimes we go by Thelma and Louise for privacy.”

The bouncer rolls his eyes, and gestures for a couple behind them to move to the front of the line. “Stop wasting my time.”

As the couple steps forward and just as Chani and Lynn are about to resign themselves to a night spent in the dorms, Castiel appears in the doorway.

“Thelma and Louise? Couldn’t have come up with anything better, huh Lynn?” Castiel turns to the bouncer and lays a friendly hand on his shoulder. “They’re friends, they can come in.”

Castiel leads them inside to what turns out to be a launch party for Crowstorm’s latest music video. Industry professionals mull about, as do the other members of the band. The only other ‘normal’ person, other than the bar staff that is, is Lysander.

“Thanks for getting us inside, Castiel,” Chani says, “Sorry to crash your event.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Castiel laughs and then turns to Lynn. “I can’t really hang out tonight, I’m expected to network so, you know. Lys is in a booth in the corner if you want to drop by.”

Before settling into their seats, Chani and Lynn head to the bar for some drinks. They start the night off right with a round of cocktails and Lynn orders a drink for Lysander. He’s not much of a drinker but she remembers his usual order for the occasions he does. He’s usually a cider man, but when it comes to cocktails, he likes an old fashioned.

Lynn and Chani make their way to Lysander’s booth and Lynn places his drink in front of him. He smiles at her in thanks, but before either of them can speak, they’re thrust into introductions.

“I’m Chani and you must be Lysander,” Chani says, outstretching her hand.

Her eyes immediately run up and down, giving him the once over an appraising his style. She’s the type to appreciate that kind of thing and Lynn notices it too. He looks like his old self but a little toned down for farm life. He’s lost his signature jabot and heavy coat, but his shirt is white and flowy with a pussy bow around the neck.

Lysander accepts her handshake. “Lovely to meet you.”

Conversation flows into a quiet catch-up and there’s no mention of Rosalya’s situation. It’s mostly Chani and Lysander getting to know each other and the topics are light.

Before long, a professionally dressed man appears on stage and introduces Crowstorm’s latest music video. There’s much applause for the various industry figures who worked on it and plenty of speeches, but the room goes silent as the video is finally played publicly for the first time.

In the video, Castiel is driving through the forest at lightning speed. He reaches a castle where he climbs the winding stone stairs until he reaches a bedroom where he ravishes a scantily clad woman. Between her teeth, she holds a vial of poison which she forces down Castiel’s throat with the might of her kiss. She abandons him there as he lies dying on the bed.

The lights go up and the room is again filled with applause. The actress from the video joins the band members on stage as they talk about the process of creating it and how much fun it was to make.

Everyone’s eyes are on Castiel and the band, except for Lynn who stares silently at Lysander, wondering what he’s thinking. Wasn’t this his dream too? If he feels any sort of resentment or hurt, his face doesn’t betray him. But she can’t help but wonder if he wishes he were on that stage too, living out his creative dreams not living out his parent’s legacy.

When the industry portion of the evening is complete and Castiel has sufficiently mingled, he joins the rest of them in the booth. Each of them compliments the video and the song in all sincerity, and Lynn does her best to avoid that twinge of worry that maybe Lysander missed out on something special.

Throughout the night that feeling does fade, maybe it’s the alcohol or the fact that the old gang is back together but she does end up having a nice time and her worries slip away. They reminisce and catch Chani up on old stories and in-jokes and it feels just like old times.

As the night continues on they go their separate ways; Chani returns to the dorms and Lysander, Castiel, and Lynn head back to Castiel’s where Lysander is staying for the time being for another round of drinks.

Lynn and Lysander settle in on the couch as Castiel prepares a nightcap in the kitchen. Lynn kicks off her shoes and settles into the soft cushions decorating the sofa. Perhaps it’s the drinks or the stress of the past week catching up on her, but she falls asleep before Castiel has even returned.

The last thing she remembers is the weight of a soft blanket carrying her off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The scenes with the two of them are deliberately fleeting


End file.
